This study aims at investigating influencing factors of achievement in higher education (1st year of University). The analyses of empirical data collected in French-speaking Belgium show that on average ... [more ▼]

This study aims at investigating influencing factors of achievement in higher education (1st year of University). The analyses of empirical data collected in French-speaking Belgium show that on average girls outperform boys; the gender gap is not explained by students’ previous career. Besides, interaction effects between gender and parents’ level of education are observed. Gender achievement gaps are larger when parents’ level of education is higher. Moreover, when the father’s level of education is kept under control, the mother’s level of education is not related to boys’ achievement, but is related to girls’ achievement. [less ▲]

The first goal of this article is to assess, for each country belonging to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the influence of pupils’ sociocultural background on ... [more ▼]

The first goal of this article is to assess, for each country belonging to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the influence of pupils’ sociocultural background on educational aspirations. The second goal is to explore whether, after controlling for educational achievement, the residual influence of sociocultural background is still significant. In addition, the author estimates whether the sociocultural and academic characteristics of school composition have an additional impact on educational aspirations in this group of countries. Finally, they shows that the structural characteristics of school systems moderate the influence of individual characteristics and school composition on educational aspirations. [less ▲]